It started as a simple stomach ache, but Alexandra Varipapa, a sophomore at the University of Richmond, decided to go to the emergency room.

There, doctors ordered a full CT scan, a radiation imaging test, which found a harmless ovarian cyst. She never questioned the CT scan, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports.

Wow, she walked in and just got a CT scan! Oh, wait, she also got a history and a physical exam, but you wouldn’t know that from the slant of the article.

But her father did – when he got the $8,500 bill, $6,500 of which was that CT scan.

“I was pretty flabbergasted,” said Robert Varipapa, himself a physician.

Varipapa says his daughter’s pain could have been diagnosed far more easily and cheaply with a $1,400 ultrasound.

“A history, a pelvic examination and probably an ultrasound,” he said. And he would have started with the ultrasound.

Aah, a doctor relative with a retrospectoscope. Stepwise testing works just fine in the clinic, but in the ED we need to do a lotta things in a hurry:

rule out the horrible thing

get a diagnosis, or exclude the killer diagnosis

get the patient out of the ED to make room for the next patient

But the hospital defends the CT scan, saying an ultrasound might have missed something more serious.

“It would not have ruled out appendicitis obviously, it would not have ruled, necessarily, out a kidney stone,” said Dr. Bob Powell, ER medical director of Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital.

Varipapa agrees, but asks why not start simple – and do the CT scan only if necessary?

“Well it’s my opinion this is defensive medicine,” Varipapa said.

Well, you may be right that it’s defensive medicine, but that doesn’t make it incorrect, or bad medicine. A better question would be the 6K charge for a CT scan, but bashing the ED is a lot easier. Frankly, this is not a terrific example of defensive medicine, but is a good example of a) the different thought processes between clinic and EM doctors, and b) a cautionary tale of current ED costs.

Kevin looked very reasonable and professional (and wasn’t wearing his pajamas)! Here’s his CBS video. I recommend it, mostly to see Kevin before he moves to Hollywood.